For a heartbeat, nothing moved.
Ryan, still had his mouth open to utter the first word of his spell. His walnut wand, glowing green at the tip, was pointed at where Maria had stood a second ago.
Now there was only dust. And something cold at his back.
Maria had whispered in her shocked opponent's ear: "Boo."
Ryan wanted to turn around. Wanted to scream. Wanted to summon wind to blow her back.
But a student's reflexes could never match the speed of a trained fighter.
Maria didn't move her black dagger; she just increased the pressure on Ryan's jugular slightly, just slightly. Enough for the cold blade to feel the warmth of the skin.
The blade didn't tremble.
In that fraction of a second, the Academy's ancient magic activated.
The "Token of Sacrifice" necklace around Ryan's neck detected the threat of certain death.
Zzzzt!
A blinding red light exploded from the necklace's gem.
An absolute, impenetrable shield formed around Ryan and pushed Maria back with intense repulsive force.
Maria neutralized the repulsive force with a smooth backflip and landed on her feet a few meters away. She sheathed her daggers with a flashy move (twirling around her finger).
Ding!
The magical bell signaling the end of the fight echoed in the arena.
The referee hadn't even dropped his hand to start the match. He just stood there. Frozen. He looked at the stadium's large magical clock.
The timer had stopped at 00:03.
Three seconds.
Three seconds were all it took. A Wind Mage, undone before the air could answer him.
Ryan fell to his knees. He was white as a sheet.
He touched the broken remnants of his necklace, his breathing shallow. If not for that crystal, his blood would be staining the arena sands right now.
Silence.
Thousands of people sat in the stadium, but the sound of pigeons flapping their wings could be heard. No one believed it. "Mana-less Girl"? "Probation Student"?
And then...
Explosion.
Not an explosion of mana, but an explosion of shouts and cheers.
"Did you see that?!"
"She disappeared! I didn't even see when she got behind him!"
"Is that speed or magic?!"
Arthur smiled in the participants' box. Damian narrowed his eyes and leaned forward.
Without looking at the crowd, without raising her fist in victory, Maria just gave a short bow toward the VIP box (Edward) and walked toward the exit tunnel.
Her message was clear:
I didn't come to play. I came to finish the job.
In the second round, her opponent was a Class-A heavyweight swordsman. He wore thick steel armor and swung a two-meter greatsword around as if it were a mere stick.
The spectators waited for Maria to be crushed under those shattering blows.
The swordsman let out a roar. He swung his giant blade horizontally, aiming right at Maria's waist to cleave her in two.
The blade was coming in too low; dropping to the ground to dodge wasn't an option.
So, Maria did the one thing no one expected.
She channeled mana into her legs. Just as the blade reached her, she leapt upward, arching her back mid-air like a high jumper. The deadly steel howled as it passed mere inches beneath her spine.
With the swing completed, the swordsman's guard was left wide open, his momentum pulling him violently off balance. Still falling, Maria deepened her arch and slammed both palms onto the arena floor.
She used her hands as a spring, seamlessly turning her backward momentum into a back-flip.
But she had no intention of completing the rotation and landing on her feet. She weaponized the centrifugal force of the spin. Mid-flip, she aligned her body perfectly with her opponent.
Judo Technique: Kani Basami.
She shot her legs out toward him—her right leg slamming across the front of his shin, and her left hooking tightly behind his knee.
At the same time, she surged mana from her bracer down to her legs, multiplying the impact force.
A sharp twist of her hips. The scissors closed.
The giant swordsman's legs were swept out from under him with unbelievable force. The heavy armor that had protected him seconds ago was now his worst enemy, dragging him face-first into the dirt.
CRASH!
The impact was so severe his helmet went crooked and the wind was knocked out of him.
Before the opponent realized what happened, Maria was already on him.
She grabbed the opponent's right ankle and locked it under her armpit. Then, with all her body strength, she leaned back, torquing the knee at a vicious angle.
Heel Hook.
The thick shin armor now acted like a steel clamp, trapping the opponent's leg in a painful position.
Maria increased the pressure.
"Surrender, or I'll shatter your knee."
The swordsman wanted to struggle, but the terrible pain of the twisting joint cut him off. A muffled groan was heard from under his helmet, and he immediately slammed his armored hand frantically on the ground.
"Aaaah! Yield! Yield!"
Maria immediately released his leg and jumped back.
The crowd remained stunned for a moment. She had brought a moving tank to its knees without even a sword strike, just by breaking balance and locking a joint.
But Maria wasn't the only one who had changed.
It was Brook's turn.
His opponent was an arrogant boy from the noble house of "Red Rose," who upon seeing Brook, waved his staff with contempt and created a wall of flaming fire.
"Come forward, brainless giant! Let me roast you!"
If this were the Brook of a few months ago, he would have charged into the fire with anger and shouts and burned. But today's Brook stood his ground.
He raised his large shield and tucked his body.
He waited—letting the flames lick his armor, enduring the heat. His eyes followed the mage's hand movement from behind the edge of the shield.
Just the moment the mage took a breath to cast the second spell and his guard opened... Brook moved.
Not with ordinary running.
A dense yellow aura wrapped around his body and shield.
Battering Ram Charge.
Brook was fired like a cannonball. He passed through the remaining fire and with all his enhanced weight and power, slammed his shield into the mage's chest.
GONNNG!
A sound like a sledgehammer hitting a large cauldron echoed in the arena.
The arrogant mage was thrown into the air like a rag doll, landed several meters back on the sand, and didn't get back up.
The crowd, not expecting such clean technique from Brook, remained silent for a moment and then cheered.
Brook stood panting. He had won, not with anger, but with discipline.
As he was leaving the field, at the tunnel entrance, he saw Maria waiting for her next turn.
Their gazes locked.
Brook paused. Sweat dripped from his face. He was no longer the boy who wanted to humiliate Maria; he was someone who understood the meaning of "striving to become strong."
He nodded in respect. A short, masculine, and heavy movement.
Maria blinked in response and bowed her head slightly.
The matches continued with ruthless speed, and Maria advanced like a gray ghost amidst the flashy colors of the mages.